Black mirror

Season 1,Episode 2 - 15 million merits

 

Year of release : 2011

 

Run time : 1h2min

 

Genre : Sci Fi / Drama / Anthology / Tv Series / Mini Series

 

 

Bing lives in a prison-like facility,where people who reach the age of 21 are working to sustain society.

 

The facility seems big, everybody has a small room without a bathroom, like a prison cell, all screens,even the ceiling(no windows to be seen anywhere,so imagine what it must be like to continuously stare into screens,for the eyes. Also, they never know if it's night or day,the computer wakes them up in the "morning", and tells them when to go to sleep ), in which they have to pay for watching or not watching what the ones in charge choose to show them, if they have no money,they have to watch. If their eyes are closed or they have a hand over their eyes, the programme stops,red lights appear with a warning.

The merits are a substitute for money, with which they buy food and toothpaste.

 

The ones who pedal are dressed in gray,as if to blend in, the workers who are seen as less, in "lemon". The ones who got out of the pedal life, get to wear what they want, although their life doesn't seem better, and I'm not sure what they think to be the outside, is the outside.

 

Bing pedals the bicycle daily, and due to his brother who died, has more than 15 million merits.

A girl who pedals next to him seems to be interested in him, but he doesn't notice her.

He does notice the new girl,whom he hears singing in the bathroom, and offers to give her his 15 million merits so she could sing in the Hot Shot talent show which gives the people who pedal a way out of the monotone daily life into the upper class.

 

At the show, she is given Cupplience , a drugged drink, for her nerves, but in reality to make her easy to manipulate.

 

The girl,who seems innocent, sings a song about true love which she knows from her mother and her mother before. The judges,the moment they see her, s3xually harass her, telling her, due to her looks she should be in p0rn, and although,after listening to her, one of the judges says her voice is the best that season, they refuse to give her a singing gig,saying it's too many singers and they're out this season, instead tell her all they have for someone like her is a career in p0rn.

 

The irony comes from the fact she sings about true love,yet she doesn't choose love, she has no idea of the meaning of the words she sings,as she chooses a life in p0rn,as the judges tell her they'll give her drugs to cope with it.

So, she chooses a life of drugs and p0rn instead of going back to the bicycle she worked on for a week!

To me it doesn't seem like a good bargain,as drugged out of her mind,used by countless men, doesn't seem better than pedaling, at least pedaling she's in control of her mind and body! Drugged, she has no idea what's happening to her, and spends her days in a haze. It's a much more miserable life than pedaling.

 

Bing, angry, decides to work hard to get 15 million merits to confront the judges.

 

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Confronting the judges, he accepts their deal.

 

What got to me, was the scene in which he has no choice but to watch the one he loves in a p0rn,as he has no more merits to refuse the viewing, and so he trashes the screens, while we hear her trying to sing the song while she has s3x with some guy, while being also drugged out of her mind. So,she still knows what's happening to her, and that is soul crushing,what people would do for fame, so they won't be a "nobody".Misery as a celebrity beats a good life as a nobody,to some.

 

To me the movie is about how entertainers and politicians act before they get fame and fortune, the ideals they have which disappear once the money come in, and change their mind based on who pays them more for what to say and what to do, to pursue their followers to do the same.

 

Bing becomes a sell-out ,just like the judges he despises, just like the girl he loved, and lies to his followers from his ivory tower, telling truths he doesn't relate to,just so he could have his comfort and security.

 

The soundtrack was great.

 

This episode, White Bear, and The Entire History Of You, are my favorite Black Mirror episodes.

 

The series stream on Netflix.

 

Rating : It's so money!